Okay, I’m a doctoral student. My esteemed school has, quite wisely I think, instituted a time-to-degree limitation. Basically, they want you to get your damn disseration done in a timely manner. I support that.
However, I am not able to meet the deadline. Luckily, they do have a procedure for asking for an extension. Excuse me, did I use the term procedure? I meant a ratfucking wad of nitpicky requirements, statements, dossiers of prior work, and signed-in-blood statements by faculty that I have some hope of finishing. The list of things they want me to submit to be granted an extension is remarkable. At least three of things are items they already have on file, things I handed in on time as part of the usual paperwork one completes as you proceed to candidacy, assembling a committee, getting a proposal accepted, etc.
The thing is, I’m finding this filing so onerous, it’s interfering with my doctoral work! How’s that for hilarious.
And here is the other thing. The major reason I need one extra year is that I had a baby. Every other place in the university has instituted family-friendly policies that recognize this as an important life event. Leave is extended. The tenure clock is stopped. But for graduate students? Nope, I still have to assemble a stack of documents as high as my knee to beg for a goddamn extension.
So today I go haul this fat pile of papers over to the office which requires it. I will try oh so hard not to hurl it over the counter. Then I will stalk back over to my office and seethe and feel persecuted and groom this delightful grudge I’ve developed.
I know more ABDs than I do PhDs so it makes sense that the institution makes it really horrendous to request extensions; hopefully it helps wean out those who would extend, extend, extend and makes room for those who will reach the goal. HOWEVER, I do agree with you that certain “life events” should be taken into consideration [ie: having a baby and/or breaking your back in an accident] without all the bureaucratic hassles. Can you take this up to a higher level? Good luck on your extension.
No offense or anything, but breaking your back and having a baby are a little different. You chose to have a baby, you don’t choose to break your back.
Oh well. Regardless, it’s stupid to make the requirements for an extension so complicated and time-consuming. It seems like if you have enough time to fill out and retrieve all those documents, you’d have enough time to finish your PhD.
I gotcha. I wouldn’t want them to give them out willy nilly. My dissertation chair was herself a little incredulous that they wanted me to hand in some of the stuff, which seemed more appropriate for someone who was begging for an extension to reach candidacy.
I’ve got it good, I’m pretty far along (and have been making great progress, unlike some of the people who have to ask) so I’m not worried about it being granted. I remain irked about them not making it a little less onerous if one’s reasons are reasons the University has already, elsewhere, recognized as valid challenged to reaching some deadlines. As I’ve said before, they stop the tenure clock for faculty who have children.
One could argue that female grad students, if they’re serious, “should just wait” to start their families, but it’s attitudes like that which… oh wait, that’s another thread.
pldennison, I want people to at least consider reading this thread. If I gave it my dissertation title? No chance. Plus there is not enough room. Everyone knows you can’t pass if the title doesn’t have a colon.
Cranky, I think he meant it the other way round. But you could still put a colon in it — Here are all my supporting materials. Now please BITE MY ASS: Experiential Dilemma in Academia
Basic Sex Education 101: Most birth control methods do NOT provide 100% coverage/protection against getting pregnant. There are folks who try to be careful who end up contraceptive failures. Check out the "unwanted pregnancy figures from the gazilion Demographic Health Surveys conducted in umpteen different countries. And, once pregnant, some folks cannot and will not choose abortion as an alternative. So they should be punished? Quite unfair since these individuals are females…
OTOH, should the decision-maker also consider economic hardship due to unwanted pregnancy for a married male candidate as well?
Oh Cranky, our family has been there and done it, and is about to do it again…
Sis-in-law #1 finally got her PhD, it was a struggle as well. But worse was sis-in-law #2’s situation at a certain SoCal university that shall remain nameless (SDSU). What a cluster fuck the entire process was (she has since transferred out to get her doctorate at Nebraska). Idiot advisors, profs who take hideous advantage of FEMALE doc candidates, etc.
Enough to make you scream, or want to sue, but you can’t because these assholes hold your professional life in their hands.
So the next generation gets fucked just as hard as you did…
I feel for you, just jump through a couple more hoops & get gone. Of course, then comes your post-doc internship…